127 - Better Canaries or Better Mines: A Flourishing Approach to Physician Formation in the Anatomy Lab

Poster Board Number: 127
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Abstract Body : Introduction & Objective: Burnout, moral injury, and impairment among medical school graduates is well documented. Para-curricular efforts to promote wellness unintentionally places the burden on the student, the proverbial canary in the mine, to be well. Meanwhile, formal curricula, including anatomical education, has devolved into the disengaged transfer and assessment of information rather than formation of persons as future physicians. The objective of this project was to leverage the experience of the anatomy lab for human flourishing. To achieve this objective, we implemented a developmental evaluation strategy to allow a solution to evolve within VCOM Auburn curricular systems beginning with anatomy.

Methods: Developmental evaluation strategy involves rational, stakeholder engagement, and documentation. We adopted a framework for character and caring in medicine developed by the Kern National Network as a rationale for a flourishing approach to physician formation innovation. We engaged stakeholders including students, faculty, and administrators to determine what curricular structures could be repurposed for flourishing. We remodeled the anatomy lab experience to promote domains of human flourishing such as meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships. We also restructured formative assessments, lab check-in, and personnel organization (faculty and second-year interns) to emphasize physician development. As a formative assessment, students evaluate individual and community flourishing using a quantitative and qualitative instrument at the end of each block. IRB approval was granted to use Longitudinal thrive assessment data from block 1 and 2, including Individual and Community Flourishing short-form measures and narrative responses for evaluation purposes.

Results: Individual and Community Flourishing measures showed statistically significant improvement from Block 1 (July-Sept) and Block 2 (Oct-Dec) among first year medical students (p < .0001). Qualitative analysis of flourishing narratives document themes of support, community, purpose, and personal growth.

Conclusions: A developmental evaluation strategy allows for a flourishing approach to physician formation to evolve within the anatomy curriculum.

Significance: Don Berwick, healthcare policy guru, has been quoted as saying, “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets”. If our results are burned out students who demonstrate minimum competency in anatomical knowledge, then the invitation is to redesign our system. Curricula can be parametrized for flourishing to promote student formation as future physicians as well as achieving medical knowledge acquisition.